To be poor is not glorious. But this doesn’t seem to be the case with ‘Bollywood Badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan. One of the primary reasons behind his success in the industry is PR and marketing. His marketing team knows exactly how to use cinemagoers’ emotions to gain love, support, and of course, money.
How ‘poor’ Shah Rukh Khan was
“It takes a lot to become Shah Rukh Khan.” I’ll tell you what it takes to become Shah Rukh Khan. 10 per cent looks, 30 per cent acting skills, 50 per cent marketing and romanticising the poverty and the remaining 10 per cent is luck. Mind you, 50 per cent is all about gaining sympathy and using people’s emotions in the individual’s favour.
Shah Rukh knew how to manipulate people. He started telling his sob stories, the stories about how he had to skip meals, and how he was forced to live a miserable life due to financial hardships.
During an interview, he had told that he is from a poor family who couldn’t afford the expensive injections when his father was dying. He added that he doesn’t know whether his father died because of the money or he had to. He comes from a place where there wasn’t much to eat and had only watery daal to survive on.
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He had also told how he was threatened to leave school as his parents couldn’t afford to pay his school fees. But, was it the truth or it is just a manufactured story to fool the audience?
Rags to riches or riches to riches?
I am sure that you must have come across many headlines such as “The Rags to Riches Story of Shah Rukh Khan” or “Shahrukh Khan’s father was poor, had given a gift to cracked chess.” Many of you would also have given the example of his success and his journey to others as inspiration.
Shahrukh, who has all the wealth and fame today, has never really faced any hardships. It might be hard for you to digest when the bubble around Shahrukh’s life will be burst today, in this article.
When Shahrukh was a child, he went to St. Columba’s School in New Delhi, which was the best school in the city. His family owned a series of businesses, and had apartments in good neighbourhoods of the city. His father Mir Taj Mohammed Khan was a part of ‘Frontier Gandhi’ Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan’s movement and fought elections against national icon, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, but lost.
Talking about Shahrukh’s mother, she was a first-class magistrate who studied at the University Of Oxford, England. She was also a social worker who worked closely with the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Shahrukh Khan’s maternal grandfather, Ifthikar Ahmed, was from Mangalore. He had a huge share in building the Mangalore port.
Media glorifies poverty of Bollywood stars
While Shahrukh sold his manufactured sob stories to en-cash love and fame, the media hyped it for their own reasons. Of course, the reason is TRP and the popularity of the media organisation. This is the reason why you often come across sob stories of Bollywood stars and celebrities from other fields. Shahrukh knew that the secret to staying relevant in the industry for a long time is PR. Now, the biggest PR is working behind him to create an image for him.
Simply put, Shahrukh Khan today has seen it all — money, fame and name. He has everything that we can only dream of. But at what cost? The actor sold his life and lied about his origin to reach the heights of success as seen today. It is now up to you to decide whether you want to be fooled around with such sob stories or be aware of the truth and marketing gimmicks.
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